1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a manual cutting tool for cutting cables, steel cord, rods to size, comprising a pair of movable cutting means one of which is connected to a stationary handle and the other one of which is adapted to be moved against the stationary cutting means by a movable handle and transmission means, said cutting means having associated therewith replaceable, concavely shaped cutting elements adapted to be connected in a frictional and shape lock.
2. Description of Background Art
Manual cutting tools of this kind are used to cut to the desired length cables, steel cords which are wound from cable drums, for example, for further processing. The required severing forces frequently are very high and can be applied through force transmitting means by means of handles adapted to be moved against each other. The force transmitting means allow the oppositely disposed cutting means to be slowly moved against each other while the applied forces are of a relatively low magnitude. The cutting means may be in the form of oppositely disposed angle shears or as a rotary knife of the type known by EP 0 186 222 B1, for example.
It has turned out that the cut will be particularly clean in case the strands to be severed are not sheared in the manner of a side cutter, as known by U.S. Pat. No. 4,670,983; instead, the cutting forces should act on the material to be severed in a manner to cause fracture to occur. This is obtained by means of the cutting elements acting onto the strands. Also, the cutting elements should be matched as well as possible to the strand to be severed as to size and shape.
The cutting means have to sustain relatively high mechanical loads and experience relatively high wear, depending on the material to be severed. In addition, they experience rough handling on construction sites and in similar dirty environments and they may be used to cut widely varying materials, all of which will often cause their utility to greatly degrade.